After days and weeks of talk of money, money and more money, of the infusion of glitz and glamour, and the co-habitation of business and show business, it is now time for the primary business in the Indian Premier League which, presumably, is cricket. Tonight, Bangalore take on Calcutta in the first match and the next 44 days will decide if this Twenty20 thing is really here to stay or whether it is only going to last as long as its novelty.

So, as the tournament begins, here’s a simple question: which of the eight teams looks most likely, on paper, to walk away with the title? Will it be Madras and Mahendra Singh Dhoni? Bombay and Sachin Tendulkar? Delhi and Virender Sehwag? Hyderabad and V.V.S. Laxman? Calcutta and Saurav Ganguly? And, do Rahul Dravid and Bangalore team stand even a whiff of a chance? Or, as the wise sages say on TV, will “the better team of the day” win?

If cricket is an unpredictable game, is the IPL going to be even more so? Will cricket emerge stronger or weaker after this? Will cricket fans be able to relate to the concept of their team?

14 comments

For all the negativism that churumuri has heaped on the Bangalore team, its uniform, its name, its own owner’s doctorate degree, its owner’s mind, its cheer girls, etc, I desperately hope that the Royal Challengers will prove everybody wrong and walk away with the title.

Who ever wins IPL is going to lose. There will be no IPL next season. Cricket lovers in India can never come to terms with teams having foreigners & pakistanis in them and moreover IPL expects people to cheer them. I think it is going to the biggest sport flop, running into losses of billions of dollars and burning the hands of all the persons involved.

Who wins?
Who cares?
All these moneyed people through money on Cricket players
So Players won.
Loser are rest of millions people because the price will be hiked and we pay for it.
Its game to increase the price of commoditie